Write about the pets you have had and all your favorite memories with them ~Family History Tuesday~

Pepper

Hope

Jacques

Peter and Lulu

These are the only pet names I can even remember.  I know we had a lot more, but their names escape me.

Pepper was a beagle. I remember thinking that Snoopy looks nothing like a beagle. She/he was my first pet (I was probably 6 years old) and one day she was gone.  My mom said she had taken her to a farm to live where she could get better care than we were apparently giving her/him.


Hope was the offspring of our childhood friend's dog.  She was a labrador-cocker spaniel mix.  She was black with white paws and oh so cute!  Unfortunately she did not survive the fire that started in our home. We were all away at school and work when it happened. The smoke overcame her.

Jacques was a beautiful, large Husky.  He was given to my younger sister without my parent's permission.  We had him for some time, before we realized he was more than we could handle.  We ignored it for a long time, but finally had to give him up to our local animal shelter.

Peter and Lulu were our two ferrets.  My younger sister and I bought them at a pet store.  Peter was an albino ferret with the sweetest personality.  Lulu was more feisty and a sable ferret.  She was known to bite.  We loved them dearly, but disease ravaged their little bodies. Peter left us first, then Lulu.

And I haven't had any pets since.  Allergies and heartbreaking loss has kept me from having another pet friend, though I still have a great place in my heart for them.

{Family History Tuesday prompt at designzbydede}

Write about your hardest goodbye ~Family History Tuesday~

If you know me well then you know of my love for animals.  I cannot stand to see or hear or know about an animal being hurt. I even have to change the TV channel when they show that "End Animal Cruelty"commercial with Sarah McLachlan singing in the background.

You can just imagine then, having to let go of the pets in my life has been extremely sad. I've had rabbits, hamsters, chickens, abandoned baby birds, 3 dogs and 2 ferrets.

Some of them have died from sickness. Our rabbits were killed by some unknown animal. And a dog we had, died in a fire.

I remember an especially devastating time when we had to give up our beautiful dog to the Animal Shelter.  He was just too big and active for our home.  When we returned home I couldn't contain my sadness.

My mom was trying to console us and started to cry herself.  She started to sob so hard! I'd never seen her feel so hurt.  She then started to relate to us the story of when she was offered an opportunity to leave her home country and move to the United States.  She didn't think she could do it.  She had a sickly mother to care for. 

When my mom told her own mother about the chance to leave, her mother, in her selflessness and wisdom, told my mom that she had to live for herself now and her future. She told her it was OK to leave and do what she had to do to live a better life.

So, with a broken heart my 20-year-old mother made her way to the U.S. and DID make a better life for herself and therefore US, her children. I love my Mom.


{Family History Tuesday prompts found at designzbydede}